All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

夜下征虏亭

Descending to Zhenglu Pavilion at Night

李白

Li Bai

山水landscape 写景scenery

船下广陵去，月明征虏亭。
山花如绣颊，江火似流萤。

The boat sails down toward Guangling; the moon brightens Zhenglu Pavilion.
Hillside blossoms like embroidered cheeks; river lights like drifting fireflies.

Listen

Meaning

Written in Li Bai's youth as he left Shu for the south, this quatrain captures a moonlit river voyage past Zhenglu Pavilion with bright, eager freshness. Not a word states feeling, yet the moonlit pavilion, the blazing hillside flowers, and the twinkling river lights convey the young poet's delight in the Jiangnan scenery and his free, expansive spirit.

小船顺着长江驶离广陵，皎洁的月光洒满了岸边的征虏亭。两岸山花烂漫，红艳得像少女绣花的面颊；江上渔火点点，明灭闪烁，就像夜色中飞舞的流萤。

Appreciation

In twenty characters the poem builds a complete night-river picture through plain description and two deft similes. 'Blossoms like embroidered cheeks' and 'river lights like drifting fireflies' set a still shore-color against a moving water-light, making the scene lively and luminous — true to Li Bai's ideal of 'plain as a lotus from clear water, naturally unadorned.'

【白话串讲】李白夜下征虏亭：“船下广陵去，月明征虏亭”。“山花如绣颊，江火似流萤”——山花像绣颊，江火像流萤。他写夜航的景色。【意象与手法】全诗以船行为线索，由近及远展开一幅月夜江行图。前两句写船与亭，点明行程与地点；后两句以「如绣颊」「似流萤」两个比喻，写山花之艳、渔火之明，以动衬静、以明写幽，色彩明丽而境界空灵。【情感与主旨】此诗作于李白青年离蜀、初游江南之际，写月夜放舟广陵的轻快心情。全诗无一字言情，而欣喜之情溢于画面：月明、花艳、火明，皆是行旅中新鲜的观感，透出诗人对江南景物的热爱与青年时代豪逸舒展的心境。【名句点睛】「山花如绣颊，江火似流萤」为千古名句，以「绣颊」喻山花之艳、以「流萤」喻渔火之明，一静一动、一岸一江，比喻新巧贴切，画意十足。

Background

Li Bai (701–762) wrote this poem around 726, in his youth, when at twenty-six he 'left the state with sword in hand,' traveling east down the Yangzi from Shu through Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and Jinling; Guangling (Yangzhou) was a key stop. Zhenglu Pavilion, near present-day Nanjing, was said to be built for the Jin general Xie Shi, victor of the Fei River, and by the Tang was a famous Jinling landmark. The title 'Descending to Zhenglu Pavilion at Night' suggests an impromptu verse composed while mooring or passing there by night. Although the dating is debated, most scholars place it in his first Jiangnan tour, its bright, lucid tone matching the young poet's boast that 'in my cups I dip the Five Peaks.' 'Guangling' was then the greatest southeast metropolis; 'river lights' show the thriving night navigation of the river.

李白（701—762）此诗约作于开元十四年（726）前后青年时期。李白二十六岁「仗剑去国，辞亲远游」，自蜀中顺长江东下，经渝州、荆州、金陵等地，广陵（今江苏扬州）是此次壮游的重要一站。征虏亭，故址在今南京附近，相传为东晋征虏将军谢石所建——谢石在淝水之战中以少胜多、击败苻坚，名重一时，亭因以为名；南朝以来文人多有题咏，至唐代已成为金陵一带著名古迹。此诗题曰「夜下征虏亭」，即夜泊或夜经征虏亭时即景口占之作。李白一生多次往来江淮，此诗系年虽有异说，但多数学者系于初游江南时期，其轻快明丽的笔调正与青年诗人「兴酣落笔摇五岳」的豪情相符。诗中「广陵」即扬州，唐时为东南第一大都会，商旅云集；「江火」即江上渔火、舟火，可见当时江行夜航之盛。李白善于以极短篇幅捕捉旅途瞬间的审美印象，此诗与《渡荆门送别》《秋下荆门》等同为出蜀壮游时期之作，标志着他由蜀中走向更广阔天地的开始，其明丽清朗的格调在盛唐山水短章中自成一格。

Art

The four lines form two couplets, all plain description and simile, spare yet clearly ordered. The first line 'The boat sails down toward Guangling' uses 'down' for the downstream motion and the speed of the voyage; the second 'the moon brightens Zhenglu Pavilion' turns to the moonlit mooring, the word 'bright' giving the pavilion a clear outline — motion and stillness play off each other. The third 'hillside blossoms like embroidered cheeks' personifies the red flowers with a feminine image; the fourth 'river lights like drifting fireflies' likens the flickering lamps to fireflies — one still, one moving, the two similes set the colorful, glowing night river. The whole is framed by 'moon,' and the gaze moves from pavilion to shore to river-heart, ending on the scattered fishing lights. With only noun-images and similes and no empty words, every line is a painting.

此诗四句两联，全用白描与比喻，章法极为简净而层次分明。首句「船下广陵去」以「下」字写顺流之势，点出行程方向与舟行速度，气脉一泻而下；次句「月明征虏亭」转写泊舟之地的月色，「明」字写月光之亮，亭在月光下轮廓清晰，一「去」一「明」，动与静、行与止相映成趣。第三句「山花如绣颊」写岸上景物，以「绣颊」（绣花般的面颊）喻山花之红艳，用女性化的喻体写花，娇媚动人，是盛唐诗人「以艳喻景」的典型笔法；第四句「江火似流萤」写江上灯火，以「流萤」喻渔火之明灭不定，一「绣」一「流」、一静一动的两个比喻并置——山花之艳是月色下静止的色块，江火之明是夜色中游动的光点，二者相互映衬，构成一幅色彩明丽、光感丰富的夜江图。全诗以「月」为总背景，月明是底色，山花、江火在月色中各呈其态；视线由亭到江岸、由江岸到江心，由近及远，收束在星星点点的渔火上，余韵不尽。语言上全用名词性意象与比喻连缀，无一虚字，却句句有画，正合李白「清水出芙蓉，天然去雕饰」的审美理想。

Allusions

Though short, the poem carries cultural weight in its place-names. 'Zhenglu Pavilion' recalls the Jin general Xie Shi of the Fei River victory, built in his honor — Li Bai's mention is both factual and a tribute to heroic merit; the young Li Bai, cherishing grand ambitions, hints at self-identification with such achievement. 'Guangling' (Yangzhou) echoes the southern dynastic yuefu set there. 'Blossoms like embroidered cheeks' follows the Six-Dynasties courtly trope of comparing flowers to a woman's face, transformed here without vulgarity; 'river lights like fireflies' echoes the old image of fireflies marking night travel and the Tang fishing-light tradition, but Li Bai writes interest, not sorrow, refreshing the mood. The allusions are traceless — place-names carry feeling, similes carry brilliance.

此诗虽短，却暗含地名与掌故的文化积淀。「征虏亭」一名，本与东晋名将谢石相关——谢石于太元八年（383）淝水之战中击败前秦苻坚大军，以「征虏将军」之号著称，后人建亭纪念，亭遂成为金陵名胜。李白诗中点到此亭，既是纪实，也暗含对英雄勋业的追慕；青年李白胸怀「申管晏之谈，谋帝王之术」的大志，夜经征虏亭而月明亭立，古迹与月色相映，隐隐有凭吊英杰、自许功业之意。次句「广陵」即扬州，南朝乐府《长干曲》《西洲曲》等吴声歌曲多以广陵、金陵为背景，写江南水乡的儿女情长与行旅别离，李白此诗承此乐府传统而更见清朗。「山花如绣颊」之喻，可溯至六朝宫体与乐府中以妇女容颜喻花木的修辞（如「芙蓉如面柳如眉」），李白化用其神而不染其艳俗；「江火似流萤」则暗合《诗经·豳风》「熠耀宵行」以萤火写夜行的古老意象，又近唐人「月落乌啼霜满天，江枫渔火对愁眠」的渔火传统，而李白此处不写愁而写趣，境界一新。全诗用典不着痕迹，以地名传情、以比喻出彩，正是盛唐诗歌「以意运典」的典范。

Commentary

Though a minor piece in Li Bai's corpus, it is prized by anthologists as a gem of his youthful landscape quatrains. Critics call it 'pictorial': the Ming writer Zhong Xing said Li's short pieces 'write the immediate sight plainly, yet every line has charm' — this poem shows natural delight in the immediate scene. Its value is threefold: it shows Li Bai's gift for capturing a fleeting impression; it records the mood at the start of a great poet's career, bright where his late poems are brooding; and as a five-character quatrain on travel, it anticipates the High-Tang fashion of writing landscape in jueju, alongside Wang Wei and Meng Haoran. Later night-river poems (Zhang Ji's 'Mooring at Maple Bridge,' Du Mu's 'Mooring at Qinhuai') are sadder or more pensive, none as pure and bright as this; its innocence is the projection of High-Tang magnificence in the short landscape form.

此诗在李白集中虽属短章，却历来为选家所重，被誉为李白青年时期山水短章的精品。前人以「画境」评之——明人钟惺《唐诗归》谓太白短章「直写眼前，却无一句不韵」，此诗正是以眼前景写天然趣的代表：四句二十字，无一字用力，而月、花、火、萤交映成趣，所谓「清水出芙蓉」者。此诗的价值有三：其一，它以极短的篇幅展示了李白捕捉瞬间印象的能力，山花绣颊、江火流萤两个比喻，新巧而不失自然，成为后人写夜江景色的典范句式；其二，它记录了一位伟大诗人生涯起点的心境，青年李白顺江东下，眼中一切皆明丽可喜，这种「青春视角」与晚年《秋浦歌》《独坐敬亭山》中的沉郁形成鲜明对照，恰可见李白一生诗风的嬗变轨迹；其三，在体裁上，此诗以五言四句写旅途即景，是盛唐「以绝句写山水」风气的先声，与王维《鸟鸣涧》、孟浩然《宿建德江》同为短章写景的典范。后世写月夜江行者，如张继《枫桥夜泊》写其愁、杜牧《泊秦淮》写其思，皆不如李白此诗之明净；其天真烂漫处，正是盛唐气象在山水短章中的投影。

Prosody

Form Five-character jueju (quatrain)五言绝句

Rhyme Level-tone 'qing' (青) rhyme; 'pavilion' (ting) and 'firefly' (ying) are rhyme feet, one rhyme throughout全诗押平声「青」韵：次句「亭」、末句「萤」为韵脚，属《平水韵》下平九青韵；首句「去」仄声不入韵，第三句「颊」仄声不入韵，韵脚疏朗，一韵到底，音调清亮悠远。

Tone pattern Five-character quatrain, level and oblique alternating; basically regular with occasional variant characters, light and fluent in tone全诗五言四句，平仄相间：「船下广陵去」仄仄仄平仄，「月明征虏亭」仄平平仄平，「山花如绣颊」平平平仄仄，「江火似流萤」平仄仄平平，大体合于五绝平仄规则而时有拗救，声调于平稳中见流动，读来轻快朗畅。

Reading note This is a five-character jueju, one of the most popular short forms of the High Tang. Its twenty characters must hold a complete picture and feeling, demanding the utmost economy. The four lines form two couplets — the first narrates and describes, the second compares and colors — with a complete 'rise, develop, turn, conclude' structure: line 1 rises (the voyage), line 2 develops (moonlit pavilion), line 3 turns (shore blossoms), line 4 concludes (river lights), the gaze moving from motion to rest, pavilion to river, shore to heart. It rhymes in the level-tone 'qing' rhyme, sparse (every other line), bright in tone, fitting the luminous night river; the level-oblique pattern is mostly regular, with occasional variant characters (e.g. 'down,' 'cheek') giving flow within order, avoiding the stiffness of regulated verse. As an impromptu quatrain it wins by spirit, not craft: twenty characters in one breath, like flowing clouds, embodying Li Bai's natural verve, and showing that High-Tang jueju moved from early-Tang neatness to a 'spirit-rhyme' stage — a model of 'less is more.'此诗为五言绝句，是盛唐最流行的短诗体裁之一。五绝体制短小，二十字须容纳完整画面与情致，对炼字炼句要求极高；李白此诗四句两联，前联记事写景、后联比喻绘色，章法上「起承转合」完备而自然：首句起（船行），次句承（月色亭影），三句转（岸上山花），四句合（江上灯火），视线由行到止、由亭到江、由岸到心，层次分明。用韵上押平声「青」韵，韵脚疏朗（隔句一韵），音调清亮，正合夜江明丽之境；平仄上基本合律，间以拗字（如「下」「颊」），使声调于整饬中见流转，避免了近体诗的板滞。作为即景口占的短章，此诗不以格律炫技，而以气韵胜：四句二十字一气呵成，如行云流水，正体现李白「兴酣落笔」的天然之趣，也说明盛唐五绝已从初唐的工整走向「以神韵为主」的新阶段，此诗可为五绝中「以少胜多」的典范之一。

Line by line

船下广陵去，月明征虏亭。

The boat sails down toward Guangling; the moon brightens Zhenglu Pavilion — the opening sets the voyage and the moonlit landmark.

小船顺着江水驶离广陵，皎洁的月光照亮了岸边的征虏亭。

The boat glides down toward Guangling; moonlight brightens the Zhenglu Pavilion.

首联点明行踪与场景，是全诗的起势。一个「下」字写尽顺流而下的轻快，船行如箭，气脉直贯；「广陵」点出始发之地，暗含对东南繁华都会的初印象。次句「月明征虏亭」转写途中夜景，「月明」二字是全诗的底色——月光普照，亭台轮廓在月色中清晰可辨；「征虏亭」这一带有英雄勋业印记的古迹，在青年李白眼中正是理想的见证。两句一行动、一静止，一动一静之间，夜色江行的画面徐徐展开；「去」与「明」两个动词一虚一实，前者写船行之速，后者写月色之亮，奠定了全诗明丽清朗的基调，也暗含诗人对古迹的注目与对前程的憧憬，为后两句的即景生情作了铺垫。

The opening couplet fixes the journey and scene, the poem's rising force. One down exhausts the downstream ease: the boat flies, the breath straight through. Guangling names the starting place, secretly holding the first impression of the prosperous southeastern metropolis. The next line, moonlight brightens the Zhenglu Pavilion, turns to the night scene on the way; moonlight is the poem's ground - moonlight over all, the pavilion's outline clear in the moon. Zhenglu Pavilion, an old site stamped with heroic achievement, is in young Li Bai's eyes precisely the witness of ideal. The two lines one action one stillness; between motion and stillness, the night river journey's picture slowly unfolds. Go and brighten, one verb void one solid: the former writes the boat's speed, the latter the moon's brilliance, setting the poem's bright, clear keynote; secretly holding the poet's attention on the old site and his longing for the road ahead, preparing the scenery-given feeling below.

山花如绣颊，江火似流萤。

Hillside blossoms like embroidered cheeks; river lights like drifting fireflies — two similes pair a still shore-color with a moving water-light.

两岸的山花红艳得像绣过的面颊，江上的渔火明灭闪烁，像飞舞的流萤。

Mountain flowers are like rouged cheeks; river lights drift like flying fireflies.

后联是全诗最著彩笔之处，以两个比喻写岸上与江心两种景物。「山花如绣颊」以少女绣花的面颊喻山花之红艳，将自然景物人格化、女性化，色彩浓丽而情致娇媚——「绣颊」一词既写花色之红，又写花瓣纹理之细，是盛唐「以艳写景」的妙笔；「江火似流萤」以流萤喻渔火之明灭，写夜间灯火的闪烁动态，「流」字更赋予灯光以流动感。两句一静一动、一岸一江：山花是月色下静止的艳色块，江火是夜色中游动的小光点，两相对照，画面顿时活了起来。全诗至此，月明为底、花艳于岸、火明于江，三层光色交叠，境界明丽而空灵；诗人不著一个情字，而夜行中的欣喜与新鲜感尽在其中，正是「一切景语皆情语」的绝佳注脚。

The latter couplet is the poem's most colored brush, using two metaphors for the shore's and the river's two kinds of scenery. Mountain flowers are like rouged cheeks uses a maiden's embroidered-rouged cheek to metaphorize the mountain flowers' red, personifying and feminizing natural scenery, color gorgeous and charm coquettish - rouged cheek at once writes the flower's red and the petal's fine texture, the High-Tang superb stroke of using beauty for scenery. River lights drift like flying fireflies uses fireflies to metaphorize the fishing lights' on-and-off, writing the night lamps' flickering motion; drift gives the lights a flowing feel. The two lines one stillness one motion, one shore one river: mountain flowers are a still patch of color in the moonlight, river lights are small moving points in the night; set against each other, the picture instantly alive. The poem here: moonlight for ground, flowers bright on the shore, lights bright on the river; three layers of light and color overlaid, the realm bright and ethereal. The poet not one word of feeling, yet the night journey's delight and freshness are all within - precisely the finest footnote of all scenery words are feeling words.

Study

Word focus

下 In 'The boat sails down toward Guangling,' the word 'down' (xia) marks the downstream direction and implies the ease and speed of the voyage; paired with 'go' it carries the unceasing motion that contrasts with the still moonlight of the next line. 「船下广陵去」之「下」字，是全诗第一个动词，也是全诗气脉的起点。广陵在长江下游，「下」字既准确写出顺流而下的方位，又暗含舟行之速、行程之顺，一字兼写地理与气势。李白用「下」字极精：后世杜甫「即从巴峡穿巫峡，便下襄阳向洛阳」之「下」写还乡之快，李白此处「下」写壮游之畅，皆以「下」字传达一泻千里的流动感。此字之妙更在与「去」字的配合——「下」写方向，「去」写持续，船行不息的动势贯穿全句，与次句「月明」的静态形成动静对比。青年李白以「下」字起笔，句中自有一种顺流直下、意气风发的少年气象，与全诗明丽轻快的基调浑然一体，可见太白炼字不事雕琢而自然精当。

明 In 'the moon brightens Zhenglu Pavilion,' the word 'bright' (ming) stresses the moon's luminosity and spread, lighting the whole pavilion rather than merely shining on it; it sets the luminous key of the whole scene and mirrors the young poet's open mood. 「月明征虏亭」之「明」字，为全诗立下光与色的基调。此字不写「照」而写「明」，侧重月光的亮度与铺展——月非孤悬，而是将征虏亭整个照亮，亭在月色中轮廓分明。「明」字有双重作用：一是写景，月色皎洁，是山花、江火得以呈现光色的总光源；二是传情，明亮之境映照青年李白开朗的心境，与后文「山花如绣颊」的娇艳、「江火似流萤」的灵动共同构成一个明丽的世界。若易为「照」「映」等字，则只写动作而少光感，境界顿减；「明」字以状态写月光，静中蕴亮，与「月」字组合成唐人写月的惯用搭配（如「月明千里」「月明风清」），而此处置于句末，音调明亮，读来朗朗上口，正是炼字以声传情的佳例。

流萤 In 'river lights like drifting fireflies,' the phrase 'drifting fireflies' (liu ying) compares the flickering river lamps to fireflies — capturing their faint, shifting glow and the gentle motion of lights on the waves, writing the night voyage poignantly yet without noise. 「江火似流萤」之「流萤」二字，是全诗最富动感的意象。「萤」本指萤火虫，夏夜飞行时光点明灭，历来是诗家写幽夜之景的常物（杜牧《秋夕》「银烛秋光冷画屏，轻罗小扇扑流萤」即咏之）；李白此处以「流萤」喻「江火」（江上灯火），妙在三点：一是取其光之微而明，渔火点点如萤光闪烁，写出夜色中灯火的朦胧美；二是取其「流」之动势，萤火飞舞不定，正合舟行时江火随波起伏、明灭不定的真实观感；三是取其氛围之幽，流萤是夏夜幽静的符号，以此写江行夜景，明而不喧、亮而不燥。以「流萤」喻灯火，把行旅的航船灯火写得诗意盎然，足见李白化俗为雅、以自然物象写人文景观的本领，也为后世「渔火」意象的反复出现提供了经典范式。